Workaholic's Break
by Shadow Oblivion
Summary: It was the little things, the small gestures and words, which had caught her affections for him in the first place. Alice appreciated Julius' work ethic, but he was still continually overworking himself. That could be remedied if Alice could only convince Julius to take a break more often. Perhaps a slight change in strategy needed to be taken.


_The Clockmaker's Story_ manga volume being released this month was my 'excuse' for finally writing a story with this pairing (I've wanted to do something for this series since 2010, when I first started reading the manga) but I didn't have any inspiration until now.

For the purposes of this fanfic, I'm pretending that Alice and Julius have been together for at least three to five years after the events of the aforementioned manga volume (however many time periods that would be in Wonderland), which _maybe_ would explain the extended make out scene toward the latter half of this fic. I hope I was able to keep it as IC as possible, with what's been written.

Disclaimer: I own nothing from the manga or the games; I just wanted to write something fluffy for one of the pairings I like the most in this series.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Alice had hoped that Julius would be taking breaks more often now that they were in a relationship, but the sight that greeted her made Alice realize that she should have known better by now. Julius really was a workaholic and unfortunately the blue-haired man seemed to enjoy pushing himself to his limits to get the job done, even if his health suffered for it.

Alice withheld a sigh as she wondered for the umpteenth time if this was something that happened often before she started trying to help him out. It appeared likely that this was the case, since Julius seemed to be set in his ways. At least, as their relationship grew, Julius seemed to be taking Alice's advice more often, even if he still worked himself ragged.

Like the clockmaker was currently doing at the moment.

Julius' work ethic, even when he pushed himself too much, was one of the reasons Alice loved him. That, and the fact that Julius was polite and didn't poke his nose into her business. After years of going out, Julius knew not to inquire about her trips, especially to the amusement park, as he already knew she was going there to have a little fun, and not to be intimate with Boris, no matter how hard the cat tried. Alice knew that Julius was still concerned about Boris trying to woo her and take her away from him. It sometimes even went to the point of the blue-haired man displaying open jealousy should the he witness or hear of a close encounter with any of the other men in Wonderland.

Alice paused at this thought, thinking. Most of the time she didn't ask for the attention, though Alice supposed that the time that Blood had cornered her in a room had _technically_ been her fault. Alice had wondered how Julius had known she was there. At least Blood seemed more entertained than anything at Julius' appearance, though he had shot at them when they left (many bullets coming precariously close to hitting Julius).

After that encounter, Julius had needed some reassurance that Blood's advances toward her had been unwanted. Alice shook her head fondly, kind of liking it when Julius got jealous of the other men's interest in her and the way he subtly worried about her safety. Alice observed Julius working silently for a moment, trying to figure out a good way to interrupt without coming off as rude. There was never a good time to try and drag Julius away from his work.

Julius was seated at his desk, practically sprawled across it and struggling to finish work on the clock in front of him. It looked to be almost fixed, which worked well for what Alice had in mind.

Alice sighed at the thought of the ensuing argument (grumbling protests) that was likely to occur once she made her move. Despite having an intimate relationship with the clockmaker, Julius still worked as hard as ever. That didn't make him completely oblivious to what was going on around him, and therefore Alice knew that even though Julius wasn't saying anything, he was aware of her presence. And likely the fact that she was in her nightgown, and that he knew that this was one of the times she was about to try and get him to leave his work for an elusive break.

Alice blushed a bit as she inched closer to the work table, as her thoughts drifted to those rare times that Julius _did_ have a break. Some of those breaks ended up becoming some of the hottest times of her life, as Julius seemed to be attempting to make up for his lack of affection toward her during his working hours. Alice had been taken aback at first, since Julius was normally such a quiet individual, and wasn't likely to display affection toward her in public other than to hold her close when he was warning off potential advances towards her (normally from Boris). Alice hadn't been fully prepared for that level of passion from the gloomy, shut-in clockmaker, and Alice secretly suspected that Julius had found her surprise to be amusing.

Since Alice was fidgeting and hadn't said a word, Julius finally deigned it time to let the brunette know that he was aware of her standing there. The fact that Alice was not bearing a cup of coffee and was suspiciously dressed as if ready for bed made him wary. "What are you blushing like that for? Do you have a fever?" Julius glanced up briefly from the clock before him, but at the sight of the cute pout on Alice's face quickly turned his gaze back to his work. Julius made a sound halfway between a growl and an indignant gasp as Alice suddenly slid the clock he was working on out of his reach. Julius lifted his gaze and locked eyes with the brunette.

Alice ignored the half hearted glare sent her way and retained eye contact as she spoke matter of factly, "If you can't take the clock back while it's still within your reach, then it's obvious that you need to rest. You look as if you're about to keel over and die."

Julius grumbled something under his breath but before he could give voice to whatever it was, he found his chair being tugged backwards as Alice seated herself on his lap without preamble. Julius was successfully distracted from whatever he had been about to say, and he instead chose to utter a quick, "What are you doing?" His glasses couldn't hide the fact that he was blushing slightly, and Julius looked away, wondering why Alice had such an effect on him, and why he gave in so easily to her requests.

Alice plucked the glasses Julius was wearing off and set them down on the table, "Isn't it obvious? I'm making sure you take a break before you end up passing out." Alice slid her hands under Julius's overcoat and rested them on his shoulders as she leaned up and kissed Julius along the curve of his jaw. Alice hid a smile as she felt Julius reluctantly wrap his arms around her back in a loose hug, but the brunette _did _giggle a little at Julius' muttered words of how she was distracting him from his work. That was his standard response when Alice was attempting to get him to take a break.

Alice knew that this meant she had won, and that Julius would take a break, even if he did continue to protest at random intervals. Alice reached up and slid the jacket over Julius's shoulders, and he let go of her momentarily to shrug the coat off, before wrapping Alice in a hug once more.

Alice clung to Julius' vest and rested her head against his chest, "Seriously though, Julius, you haven't had any rest for 16 time periods. I'm worried about you." Alice let out a gasp as Julius slipped one of his arms beneath her legs, as his other arm wrapped around her back more firmly. With little effort, Julius stood up from the chair, taking Alice with him.

Alice steadied herself by wrapping her arms around Julius' neck, and she flushed when she realized that the clockmaker was heading for the ladder that led up to the bed. Though, Alice reflected, it was more likely that Julius wanted to cuddle with her than to do anything strenuous, especially since he was so exhausted at the moment. "You'll sleep?" Alice questioned, resting her head against the clockmaker's shoulder this time, her hands drifting to his vest absently.

Julius opened his mouth to say something about how her unbuttoning his vest was not an activity leading toward sleep, when he was interrupted by the workroom door opening abruptly.

Ace strolled into the room, his face alight with a massive grin as he spotted Julius holding Alice comfortably within his arms. At the sight of Alice looking self-conscious with her hands on Julius' vest that she had half undone, Ace's grin widened, "So, Julius, are you going to sleep or play?" Ace slid a sly look Alice's way, "Though I think Alice is letting you know what she is in the mood for right now." Ace grinned at Julius, "Would exerting yourself with a physical workout still count as a break?"

Alice, mortified at being caught in the act of trying to divest Julius of his clothing, buried her face against said man's chest, while the blue haired male fixed Ace with an unimpressed glare, "Where have you been?"

"You're blushing~." Holding his hands up in a placating gesture at the glare Julius hit him with, Ace answered the question, "I took a wrong turn because of Peter...it took me an extra 11 time periods to get here." Ace began to smile again, "It's a wonder that Peter hasn't tried to kill you again, Julius. You know, with you and Alice being so cuddly together, among other things of a not so innocent nature."

Julius withheld a sigh as he held Alice in an awkward half-hug in an attempt to comfort the brunette and her obvious discomfort at Ace's unwanted intrusion into the workroom, "...get to work, Ace."

Smirking at the curt dismissal tinged with faint embarrassment, Ace disguised himself and left with a laugh, "Play nice, you two."

Julius shook his head wordlessly and carried Alice over to the ladder, where he set her down on the ground, "You go up first."

Alice smiled to herself, knowing without turning around that Julius was more than likely scowling at the door Ace had just left through. Alice climbed up the ladder and settled down on one side of the bed, and heard Julius ascend the ladder moments later.

Julius lay down and leaned in close to Alice, one hand linking around her waist to draw her closer so that he could hold her to his chest. He lowered his head and kissed the side of her throat gently.

Alice turned over and cuddled closer to the long-haired clockmaker, her head nestling beneath his chin. "Go to sleep." She all but ordered, when Alice noticed that Julius was toying with one of the straps of her nightgown.

With a quiet mumble that might have been protest, Julius rested his hands against her back and held her, eyes closing as he tried to get himself to at least take a nap.

-x

Alice and Julius were woken from their light doze when the workroom door slammed open out of the blue, accompanied by Ace's voice ringing out clearly.

"If you guys are here, Peter's come with me to 'visit'!"

"What are you warning them for, you knave? If it were up to me, I would put you in the sea! Perhaps you would stop bothering me!"

"Ahahahaha! You're rhyming again, Peter! Do you do that on purpose?"

Alice quickly glanced over at Julius, and found that the clockmaker looked immensely unconcerned, "Julius...!" Alice let out a quiet yelp of surprise as Julius rolled them over so that Alice was pressed down against the mattress on her back, Julius half on top of her as he ran his hands lightly through her hair and drew her into a gentle kiss.

Alice heard Peter and Ace arguing with one another, but that seemed superficial now that Julius was kissing her. She was further distracted when Julius began to sensuously move his hands along her sides and back, and Alice let out a tiny gasp as Julius' tongue flicked across her lips. The worry of Peter or Ace discovering them vanished as Alice's mind went blank with the sensation of Julius sliding his tongue into her mouth for a more intimate kiss. Alice wrapped her arms around Julius' neck to get a better angle. One of Julius' hands went to the back of her head in order to deepen the kiss, while the other slowly slid down Alice's side to trail a finger in tiny circles around the side of one of the brunette's hips.

Julius released Alice from the kiss and gently untangled her arms from around his neck. He lifted a finger to his lips to indicate silence when he saw Alice about open her mouth to speak. Seeing that he had her attention, Julius gestured toward the ladder.

Breathless and a little confused at the abrupt halt of the hot kiss, Alice rested alongside Julius and blushed when she realized that Ace and Peter were still in the room and arguing with one another. Alice was relieved that it sounded like Peter was leaving and stifled a laugh at Ace's parting shot to him.

"I'll be back, you can be sure of that!" The door slammed shut, and Ace's raised voice followed the frustrated Prime Minister.

"Bye~ don't shoot anyone on the way back to the castle!"

There was a short silence, before Ace suddenly popped over the top of the ladder with a smile, resting his chin on his crossed arms, "Did you two have fun while I was away?"

Alice tensed against Julius in surprise, but the clockmaker, used to the knight's sudden appearances, merely stared at him silently.

Ace smirked, "I left the bag on the desk. There were only a handful of them this time around." Ace disappeared from the top of the ladder, adding cheerfully, "That means you can have a little fun before you go back to work again, if you haven't already, that is."

"Leave!" Alice snapped over the side of the bed at Ace, blushing when the knight winked up at her cheekily on his way out of the workroom. Alice felt Julius tug on her arm gently and she reluctantly lay back down, sighing as Julius wrapped her in a light hug again, "Why does he keep teasing us?"

"He's bored and your reactions to him teasing us about our relationship entertain him." Julius stated, as if this were the most obvious answer in the world, and he leaned in to nuzzle his head against Alice's.

Alice stopped one of Julius's hands from trailing down along her back and looked him in the eye, "Sleep. If you don't catch up on it now, you may wait too many time periods. You could collapse while I'm out shopping."

"Hm." Julius toyed with a bit of Alice's hair, not exactly denying the possibility.

Alice brushed his hand away as she tried again, "Do you remember the time I found you passed out in the hallway? The kitchen? The forest, where Boris, Dee and Dum draped all of those flowers over you and Ace had to half-carry you back to the tower because you were unresponsive? Is this ringing any bells?"

Julius didn't try to argue, because he knew those kind of things occurred, because he tended to work too much. He held still as Alice slid closer to him, and he curled an arm around her shoulders. Julius rested his chin on top of Alice's head, and closed his eyes as he let out a soft sigh, "You're content to wait another dozen or so time periods before I can give you...attention?" He'd let her interpret that however she so chose.

Alice was silent for a moment before she flushed and muttered hesitantly, "I was…err… wondering if we could, you know…wake you up for work…once we've rested?" That came out wrong, so Alice brushed a hand against Julius' waist shyly and tugged his belt. Julius was silent, and Alice spoke up after a moment's pause, when she noticed that Julius had tensed up and tightened his grip around her waist and upper back, "Julius?"

"...I think that would distract me from my work for at least two time periods afterwards..." Julius drifted off when he noticed that Alice had begun to steadily work off the remaining buttons of his vest, "...What are you doing?" He only asked because he couldn't think of anything else to say, as he already knew full well what she was up to. And Julius still wasn't quite sure how to feel about trying to initiate sexual encounters. Even with all the time they'd been together, he was still perplexed about why Alice would want to be with him.

"What do you think I'm doing?" Oblivious to Julius' inner musings, Alice paused to look at the exposed skin beneath the vest and then reached up to work away at the white shirt beneath. Alice couldn't look Julius in the eyes without blushing furiously at what was sure to be a calm, quizzical look from the clockmaker. It was easier to just stare at his chest.

The two of them were still working on what to do when an impromptu make-out session occurred. Alice normally just opted to 'accidentally' tease Julius a bit too much to incite him into kissing her, which quickly led to a loss of clothing. Alice felt a little bad for starting something a couple dozen time periods ago outside the tower. That had been a rather interesting, though the ground hadn't exactly been very comfortable. Julius had since then been careful to keep from jumping the brunette anywhere other than inside the clock tower. Alice recalled teasing him about the fact that he wouldn't actually 'jump' her, before quickly changing the subject and asking the blue-haired man if he wanted a cup of coffee, when Alice had seen him considering such a thing.

The way Julius was holding Alice so snugly right now made it seem as if he was considering her unspoken proposal to let loose (aka have awkward sex) though perhaps in a different order than Alice had suggested.

Julius blinked but made no protest when Alice began unbuttoning his shirt, and merely shrugged his shoulders backward to slide the clothes off, where they were draped over the side of the bed, forgotten, "You are being very forward today." Julius muttered as he slipped a hand under one of the straps of Alice's nightgown, and leaned in close to whisper, "It's…different." It wasn't exactly what he meant to say, but it would have to do for now.

Alice smiled again, and knew for sure that she was blushing now. It didn't bother her, as she could tell that Julius was flustered and trying to figure out what to do with her pressed up against his now bare chest. Alice found the hesitation and confusion utterly adorable. "Love you too, Julius."

Julius pretended not to notice that he was blushing a bit as well, just like he was completely ignoring the fact that a loud screaming match had begun in the hallway in favor of drawing Alice even closer to him and kissing her once more. He wasn't very vocal about these kinds of things, so he decided to let his actions attempt to convey his feelings. The clockmaker was sure that Alice knew that he found it hard to say things aloud, like declarations of love. Julius had a moment's thought about what he would do without Alice in his life, and then decided that he didn't want to entertain the notion at all. Alice had decided to stay with him, and that was all he needed to know.

"Julius?" Alice asked faintly, a little disoriented after the kiss. He really was just too good a kisser when he was able to make her mind blank out like that.

Julius was currently renewing his idea to try and figure out how to work more breaks into his busy schedule. It could even be something as simple as the two of them sharing a cup of coffee together, or exchanging words (aka arguing) over his unhealthy lifestyle and/or lack of desire to leave the tower. A light touch on his bare shoulder drew Julius' attention back to the present, and he offered a tiny smile as Alice drew him in close for another kiss.

"I thought you wanted me to get some sleep?" Julius mumbled against Alice's lips.

"Do you want to sleep right this minute?"

Julius drew back to eye Alice seriously for a moment, before he made a noncommittal grunt and lowered himself back down on the bed once more, "No, not right now."

Alice stifled a giggle, "I didn't think so." She was feeling a little self conscious again with the way Julius was looking at her. Alice shivered a bit as Julius edged down a bit to rest his head against her chest, eyes closing briefly as he indulged in listening to her heartbeat accelerate. Alice felt Julius reach up with one hand to slip one of the straps of her nightgown off her shoulder. "Ju…Julius."

Julius lifted his head as he slid the other strap off, and tugged the nightgown down slowly so that he could lay light kisses along Alice's now exposed shoulders. Julius ran a hand through Alice's hair, his other hand sliding the gown all the way down to her waist, fingers extending to brush against her stomach in a feather-light touch. Julius placed a kiss on the side of Alice's throat, breathing against the skin, "Your face is getting redder by the moment. Do you like this?" Julius slid one hand down Alice's now bare side, causing a more pronounced shiver. He ran his hand over her hip, and was rewarded with a soft moan, "Here?" Julius muttered, as he nuzzled his way along Alice's throat, where he kissed the hollow of her throat, "Your heart is racing."

"B…Because you're teasing me." Alice twitched, letting out a soundless groan as Julius trailed a finger down her waist and to the inside of her thigh. He was _definitely_ being a tease, with all of the light, sensual touching he was doing. It was as if the clockmaker was taking his time despite his mantra of not wanting to take more frequent breaks from his work.

"Am I? Maybe you're imagining things. You're tired, aren't you?" Julius asked softly, trailing his hand back up and splaying it gently across Alice's abdomen.

Alice felt her face heat further and brought Julius down into another kiss, and smiled against his lips when she felt him fumbling with her bra strap and utterly failing to undo it. Alice hesitated for a moment, before dropping one of her arms from his neck and sneakily tugging at his belt and succeeding in getting it unbuckled before he could finish with her bra strap. "Need some help?" Alice questioned when Julius broke the kiss with a soft growl of irritation at the nuisance that was a woman's bra.

Julius scowled faintly at the teasing, and drew back to rid himself of his belt and pants, pausing for a moment as he realized just how far they were going that evening. Perhaps this would be too much of a break from work right now, but as he didn't have much work left to do at the moment…

Alice noticed Julius' abrupt mood shift, and decided to take drastic measures, "Hey, Julius."

Julius looked up from his remaining piece of clothing, and made a sound in the back of his throat as he watched Alice undo her own bra strap with a quick flick of her fingers while wearing a tiny smirk (to hide any shyness that may have crept into her expression otherwise). Julius grumbled something under his breath as he removed the bra the rest of the way, tossing aside the fiendishly tricky article of clothing. Had she always worn one under her nightgown? He couldn't recall. Shaking his head, Julius rested his head against Alice's chest again, trailing a hand down her side which brought forth a shiver in response to his touch, and at the same time caused interesting little sounds to emit from the brunette.

Alice reached up and ran a hand through Julius' hair, marveling at its softness, before she felt Julius move his head slightly. The reason for that was soon made clear, and Alice let out a little squeak of surprise as Julius' tongue darted out, catching her unawares, "J…Julius! What...!" Alice dug the fingers of both of her hands into Julius' hair tightly as the clockmaker currently seemed to be content to keep his attention on her breasts for the time being. "T…Tickles…" Alice stuttered, and Julius made a hum of some kind of acknowledgment, before he shifted one of his hands, and Alice's face turned beet red and she let out what sounded to be a cross between a gasp and a moan. _She_ was being the forward one?

Julius scooted closer and despite Alice's firm grip on his hair, began to lick his way up from her stomach, across her heaving chest, where his lips lingered for a brief moment, before he worked up to the side of her neck. Satisfied when he heard Alice make a small noise of pleasure from his ministrations, Julius moved up to capture Alice's lips in another searing kiss. Alice squirmed as Julius' hands continued to tease her, and when she couldn't take all the stimulation she was receiving, Alice abruptly kneed Julius to get his attention, since he was all but smothering her in an extended, passionate kiss.

The knee to his gut caught Julius' attention, and caused him to wince from the sudden pain. Julius broke the kiss and dropped one hand to Alice's side as he lifted his other hand to free his hair from her death grip, and gave a brief, teasing smile at the flustered, blushing face below him. Then, Julius gently brushed a hand along her cheek, his expression turning into one of concern. Maybe he was going a little too fast, and Alice hadn't liked what he was doing? He supposed that could be the case, as Alice had resorted to physical violence to let him know that something was wrong. Julius curled a hand around one of Alice's as he looked her in the eyes, "Do you want me to stop?"

Alice blinked in surprise at the question, before she reached up and hugged him to her with her free arm, "No, keep going." Then, in dead seriousness, Alice let go and tilted Julius' head up by his chin to look him square in the eyes again, "As long as you stop fondling my breasts so much." Alice let go and tugged the nearest bit of Julius' blue hair as she added, "And don't you _dare_ fall asleep on me like the last time without finishing what you started or I'll drag you out of the tower against your will to socialize and force you to take more breaks whether you want to or not!"

Julius was startled into laughter at this, and then made a slow show of removing what little remained of his clothing. Julius then hooked his fingers into the side of Alice's underwear after he had tugged the nightgown down and out of the way, "Then I had better do as you ask." He looked away, and Alice could almost picture a dark cloud looming over the blue-haired man's head, his expression strained as he muttered aloud, "Nothing would be a worse fate then to be dragged off to the amusement park or town for a 'break'. I shudder to think how much work would pile up in my absence." Julius turned his attention back to Alice with narrowed eyes when she started to laugh.

"Oh Julius, you can be such a gloomy recluse sometimes. It's cute though. You do need to get out of the tower once and awhile though. But not to just go shopping for coffee and clock parts." Alice blushed again as Julius settled close against her, arms resting on either side of her head, one hand still holding hers tightly. The brunette squirmed a bit at the intense look of concentration being focused on her. Julius shifted a bit, and Alice flushed further as it finally registered in her mind that they were both minus their clothes now, and despite Julius' mild complaints and apparent lack of motivation to 'take a break', she could tell that he was _very _happy to be where he was right now. Alice gasped as Julius half rested on her, his hair brushing against her chest as he breathed against her neck, "You already make sure I take breaks, whether I want to or not. Do you expect me to be grateful?"

Alice sighed, "You can be such a mood breaker, Julius." The brunette rested her free hand against the blue-haired man's chest, since the way he was resting over her made it impossible to put it on his shoulder, "If you don't take care of yourself, and something happens to you, I'll be all alone." Alice managed to free the hand Julius wasn't holding on to, and placed it gently over the clockmaker's lips before he could say a word, "And no, I wouldn't just go and hook up with Boris or Blood. I only want to be with you. That's why I'd be lonely if you were gone." Alice allowed Julius to move her hand away, and her breath caught as he looked at her silently, intently, as if not believing her words. Alice wasn't sure whether to smack him or cry, when Julius rested his hand against her cheek, lightly brushing away a tear with one finger. Alice realized that Julius' other hand was still entwined with one of her own.

Julius let out a slow breath, "I'm not…articulate…about these things, as I've said before." Julius' expression softened, and he squeezed her hand, "I don't know what to do, when you say such things."

Alice's response was lost amid Julius renewing his efforts to please her with an intensity that was a little different than what Alice was used to, though she was perfectly fine with something new. Had her words really had that much of an effect on the clockmaker? Had Julius really believed that she'd just move on to another man if he were gone? Or was the blue-haired man just reassuring himself? Alice suddenly let out an 'eep' of shock and smacked Julius over the head, "What did I say about touching my chest?!"

Julius rubbed his head ruefully, "You are such a violent woman sometimes." He leaned in and kissed the brunette's cheek, adding, "Even when you're blushing like this."

Alice had a retort but it was lost as she let out a louder cry than before, and all but forgot what she had been about to say.

-x

Outside the tower, oblivious to the very intimate encounter happening at that very moment, Ace was cheerfully running away from the rabbit-eared man who was pursuing him relentlessly. The gun was firing at a constant rate, and Peter was absolutely beside himself with fury that the sneaky knight was evading his bullets with infuriating ease.

-x

Neither Alice nor Julius wanted to inquire as to why Ace was in such a good mood (he had come back to the tower perhaps two hours after fleeing from Peter). Alice and Julius did, however, simultaneously evict Ace from the workshop after he had teased them mercilessly about whether they had done anything naughty while he was gone, and who had started it.

Julius and Alice both realized that the state of their rumpled clothing (and Julius buttoning his buttons in the wrong place) was the cause of Ace's comments and both found excuses to be busy doing something else. Julius returned to his work and Alice went to go make him some coffee in the kitchen.

Once Julius and Alice decided that Ace was gone from the tower, for now, anyway, the two of them made eye contact with one another as Alice set down a cup of coffee on his worktable.

Julius set his tools down and picked the cup up. Taking in the aroma of the wonderful drink that contained caffeine, he took a sip. Seeing that Alice was waiting nervously for a verdict, Julius indulged in a few more sips of the coffee, which hid his small smile at Alice's fidgeting. It was rather cute to see; not that he'd admit it aloud, otherwise she would do it more often to catch his attention. He already couldn't say no to her, so he didn't need to give her something else to hold over him.

Alice couldn't stand the silence anymore, "Well, Julius? How is it?" Did she make it worse this time, somehow? Did he not like it? Alice thought she had improved over the years.

Julius set the cup down and tilted his head up to see Alice's expectant expression. Then, he gave her a small, genuine smile, "96 points."

Alice's uncertain expression blossomed into an incredulous look of delight, and she beamed at Julius.

Julius' smile became more pronounced, but the words he was about to say were interrupted.

"Aww, you two are bonding~. It's sickeningly cute." Ace had been observing the scene silently from where he was lounging against the door-frame. The knight offered a smile upon being noticed, "I'm a little jealous."

Alice and Julius exchanged glances, before they picked up some wrenches of various sizes, and threw them at the smirking knight, both of them snapping in unison, "Get out!"

Ace laughed as he beat a hasty retreat, dodging the flying wrenches as he went, "Geez, so violent. See you two later!"

-x

One time period later, and it was evening in Wonderland again. Julius glanced up from his work, and after he made sure that Ace was gone, for now, the blue-haired man set aside his work. Standing up, Julius carefully picked Alice up from where she was slumbering at a nearby table. Once the clockmaker was absolutely positive that Alice was sound asleep, he carried her over to the sofa. He gently deposited her onto the sofa and draped a blanket over her. Julius paused for a moment, staring down at the sleeping brunette, before he leaned over and placed a kiss on Alice's cheek, whispering something softly, almost inaudibly. Julius drew away soundlessly with a faint blush splashed across his cheeks, mumbling under his breath as he got back to fixing the broken clocks Ace had brought in earlier.

Alice turned over to face the back of the sofa, not actually as asleep as Julius had believed. Alice hugged the blanket close and smiled, loving how the blue-haired clockmaker was so shy about expressing his feelings to her. It made her happy to know that Julius truly did care for her, even if he couldn't bring himself to say some things to her face to face just yet. Julius' softly spoken words followed Alice into her dreams once she finally drifted off.

'_I love you.'_

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

I don't know what to say about this story, other than it was only supposed to be around 500-1,000 words. The story kind of ran away from me, but I hope it turned out all right. Let me know what you thought of it? I do try to keep things as IC as possible, as I mentioned at the top. I just wanted to write some fluffy JuliusxAlice, 'cause I found the pairing to be cute with Julius being so awkward about what to do. I also found it amusing that Peter rhymed a lot in Clover and in _The Clockmaker's Story _manga.

With all the editing I did on this story, I'm fairly positive that I caught any misspellings or grammar mistakes. I'm still working up the nerve to go further than what I wrote, but for the time being I don't want to write a lemon that would sound awkward. Maybe I'll try some other time.


End file.
